


Astronomical Magic

by DragonFaerie



Series: Astronomical Bloodlines [1]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: BAMF Jellal Fernadez, BAMF Levy McGarden, BAMF Lucy Heartfilia, BAMF Ultear Milkovich, BAMF Yukino Aguria, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Hinted Romeo Conbolt/Wendy Marvell, I am not entirely sure how or what to tag, I'm doing this as I go, Kidnapping, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Dai Matou Enbu | Grand Magic Games Arc, Send all the criticism, how is that one not a tag?, no beta we die like women, this is my first posted fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:14:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23762947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonFaerie/pseuds/DragonFaerie
Summary: When a group decides to awaken the Stellar Bloodlines across Fiore, secrets of families and pasts long believed forgotten are dredged up, with surprising relations and even more shocking origins. With some of their guild members captured, Fairy Tail, Sabertooth and Crime Sorciere team up with the intentions of war, unaware of just how deeply their missing friends are unknowingly involved in this sinister plot.
Relationships: Angel | Sorano Aguria & Cobra | Erik & Meredy & Midnight | Macbeth & Racer | Sawyer, Angel | Sorano Aguria & Jellal Fernandes, Angel | Sorano Aguria & Yukino Aguria, Cobra | Erik/Cubellios | Kinana, Cubellios | Kinana & Fairy Tail Guild, Cubellios | Kinana & Romeo Conbolt, Jellal Fernandes & Meredy & Ultear Milkovich, Jellal Fernandes & Meredy (Fairy Tail), Jellal Fernandes & Ultear Milkovich, Jellal Fernandes/Erza Scarlet, Levy McGarden/Gajeel Redfox, Lucy Heartfilia & Levy McGarden, Lucy Heartfilia & Levy McGarden & Cubellios | Kinana, Meredy & Ultear Milkovich, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Natsu Dragneel & Gray Fullbuster & Happy & Lucy Heartfilia & Wendy Marvell & Erza Scarlet, Natsu Dragneel/Lucy Heartfilia, Yukino Aguria & Lucy Heartfilia, Yukino Aguria & Rogue Cheney, Yukino Aguria/Sting Eucliffe
Series: Astronomical Bloodlines [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1711834
Comments: 24
Kudos: 39





	1. The Incantation: Part 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Ripples](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10831923) by [therealnarnia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/therealnarnia/pseuds/therealnarnia). 



> Some particular parts of this fic very very much so inspired by therealnarnia's Ripples and, to a lesser extent, Tsunami fics! I highly recommend both, but Tsunami will make more sense if Ripples is read first, I promise. And if therealnarnia happens to read this, ohmygosh, hi and thank you for your works of absolute art!!!  
> Now, onto my story which I hope is good!  
> Hope you enjoy! ^_^

_Who would have thought the thing I hated most about losing my youth is these random pains and never-ending aches? Ugh, and I thought menstruation was bad..._ Ultear grumbled mentally as she trudged up to her cottage, holding onto the groceries she had picked up. 

The young woman in an aged body gave a relieved sigh as she managed to grasp her key from her purse’s chain and open the door without needing to drop her groceries. The cottage she now resided in was owned by a young couple, but they had been moving out, wanting to be closer to the city to begin their family. Something about nurseries and daycares..? Anyway, they sold for rather cheap despite the place being in such good order, and they had even left her most of the furniture. Apparently, they had planned to start all over, right from scratch. Ultear thought that was a bit ridiculous, but hey, it got her a nice place. As she began to put things away into the fridge and cupboards, her attention was turned to one of the few personal belongings she ever let herself keep.

Hanging up beside a large clock, (1:34 pm, she noted) was a picture, from when she, Meredy and Jellal once had gone undercover to meet up with an informant. The man was taking rather long, and a sixteen-year-old Meredy was just about ready to jump into the pool at the far too fancy resort the informant chose, when a painter had called them over. He thought they had made a lovely family, and was curious if he could paint the three of them. 

_"I have copy magic, so I could give you all copies as well, of course!"_ He offered. Jellal was about to deny, Ultear was with him, when... Meredy had pulled her puppy eyes on them. Her irises were still fading from green to pink, a side-effect of her magic, and thus... the soft brown eyes with green centers and pink rims were far more than enough by the time the girl had pleaded with her guardians.   
Ultear did not have many soft spots in her, thanks to her poor excuse of a childhood and the many mistakes she made, but _gods_ if Meredy didn't hit all of them. Jellal was just awful at denying Meredy anything, literally ever. So, the three sat for a picture. Meredy had a bright grin, facing straight on as she vibrated in her seat. Miraculously, the picture managed to show her still. Ultear blinked away a tear as she smiled, looking at her foster daughter’s face. She knew it was certainly better than continuing to travel with them in her condition, but _oh_ , how she missed her little girl. 

Jellal had been to Meredy's left, facing a window view of the sea. He was a bit lost in thought, a rather familiar expression on the tattooed man. Meredy whispered to her later that she bet he was thinking of a certain Fairy Queen, and frankly, Ultear was nearly certain. Those were times when they each recalled a mage or two from that guild with different longings, for a friend, a love, a possible brother... Despite it all though, that boy was still head over heels for the redheaded swordswoman, even now. She only hoped he would get his head out of his guilty, self-pitying ass enough to ask the Titiana on a date one of these days. They both deserved it.

Ultear herself was young in body then, and still looking at Meredy with the shiny-eyed pride that reflected her even now. She could even recall her emotions... the welcoming, wonderful pride at being the maternal figure to the bright, lovely, powerful young woman beside her. The relief that they could do good, that she could do at least now try to do right by all those she had wronged so utterly... including the blue-haired man that she could now call a friend. 

Ultear took it back… the pains of age were nothing... she would take all the pain in the world if it just meant... she could be with her daughter and her dear friend again...

But her life had been set as soon as she made that decision. Just about the rest of her apparently long life, worth a single minute. 

Gods, she hoped at least someone came out safe with that minute. 

A jolt went through the mage, and she hobbled towards the clock.

Something was wrong...

2:01.

How..?

She couldn't have possibly spent that long just reminiscing!   


* * *

A head of short, white-blue hair skillfully maneuvered through the woods, a glittering mass of precious gems and heavy, pure silver chains in hand. Yukino Aguria sighed as she held the necklace up to her face again with a grimace. She had chosen her bi-weekly mission, and while she was glad for the lack of major excitement, it was still rather gross that the one bandit had fed the heirloom she now held to his wolf. Libra had to give the poor animal vertigo just to get it to cough the darn thing up, and then it had been absolutely covered in bile. Yukino managed to wash it off using the lake the bandits had set up camp by and one of their fishing nets, but it was still disgusting. She just hoped that was the extent of her poor luck on this particular mission. She didn't want to have gone through all that only to get a docked pay...

Yukino groaned as she put the necklace back into her cape's inside pocket, carefully knocking on the tree besides her.

"Not this time..." The Celestial Spirit mage muttered. She refused to jinx herself. The Mermaid Heel swordswoman from the GMG may not believe have believed in luck, and perhaps life really was what you made of it, but that did not change the fact Yukino got the short straw of life or fate or _whatever_ more times than not. If she could take any precautions, she would!

Something ran up her spine, reminding her of the first time she attempted to summon a spirit. Now, that had not gone well. Unlike Lucy, Yukino had learned their magic, she had not been born with it. An affinity for it, yes, but her natural magic was more silvery in color, not like the blonde's brilliant golden aura. Frightened pulls on her contracted bonds grabbed Yukino's attention, she pursed her lips as she quickly pulled Libra's key off her ring. 

"Miss, are you alright? We felt a disturbance." Libra wasted no time in checking over her master with her eyes, still tense despite the girl looking none-the-worse than when she had last seen her.

"I'm quite alright Libra, I promise. I'm not sure what happened, but I don't think it was important. Thank you for worrying, though. Everyone else, too." The mage told her softly, a calming smile on her face.

Despite Libra's expressions being rare and slight, Yukino could see the small crease between her spirit's brows. She wouldn't worry her or the others if she could help it. Libra paused, giving a stiff nod.

"Very well." She nodded, disappearing into the familiar golden light. Yukino sighed, continuing on her way. All she wanted to do was go home, and take a nap. Then she could go and help Rogue corral Sting into doing the absurd amount of paperwork, maybe find and read that book Lucy wrote to her about...

Unknown to the Celestial Mage, further away than even the homeworld of her spirits, Lady Luck bore her teeth.

**_This may be fun..._**  


* * *

  
Romeo groaned as he plopped his head on the bar, glaring at his backpack. 

"You alright, Romeo?" Kinana chuckled as she looked at the young fire mage. 

"I don't understand why we're being forced to go to school, Wendy and I literally work as Mages! They all think we're dumb just because we don't know frickin' geometry- we are never going to use geometry!" He ranted, looking up to the purple-haired barmaid. Kinana giggled. 

"Maybe, but who knows. You've heard about the ridiculous situations Natsu, Lucy, Happy, Gray, Erza, Wendy and Carla have gotten into. I wouldn't be surprised if it became some random question to get you out of a sticky situation." 

"Oh gods, please no..." The boy moaned as he hid his head in his folded arms again. Kinana giggled again as she finished wiping off the counter, going to grab a tray of empty tankards from Mira for Elfman, who was helping out, to wash. Lisanna leaned over, asking for another barrel for Cana. Everyone knew you didn’t bet against the brunette, and yet… someone just wanted to try and best her, even once! 

"One of these days, we will cut you off, Cana!" Mira warned the alcoholic card mage. Cana just laughed.

"Like anyone wants to deal with my ass when it's sober!" The brunette jeered back. 

"Oh, come on, Cana you know w-" the green-eyed young woman froze, dishrag falling to the floor as her eyes dulled. 

"Kina-" Mira's concern was cut off as the purple-haired woman opened her mouth, a hissing voice under the magicless girl's sweet tone.

" **Luna ipsa putabantur indigni:**  
**Stellae mortuus es**  
**Canite sol tuus**  
**Et notum fecit caelum**  
**Nisi quod sumus formides.** "

Romeo was standing, hands carefully out to either try to catch her should she fall or to summon his Rainbow Fire. Lisanna was frozen, Elfman had a cautious arm in front of his younger sister. Cana stood, cards at the ready and searching the shadows with Mira for anything that could've caused this. But Kinana just stayed still, a blank look on her face. 

"Romeo, go get the Master..." Macao encouraged his son as he and Wakaba carefully shuffled a bit closer. Max still had his hand on Laki's shoulder, not wanting to let the bespectacled girl any nearer to the other despite their friendship. Romeo began to run up the stairs, Nab and Warren still stuck by the mission board. Then, as if someone had cut puppet strings, she relaxed and began to move and talk again of her will, resuming her sentence.

"-e love you regardless... eh... why's everyone... staring?" Kinana blinked, green eyes as confused as her stance as she registered her guildmates gazes on her.  
Footsteps raced down the stairs, Romeo just behind the Master. Makarov had been dealing with some bills, courtesy of Team Natsu, when Romeo had rushed into his office and proclaimed something was wrong with Kinana. As the ever concerned parent to his guild-brats, he immediately dropped the paperwork to rush down to make sure she was alright. 

“Master? Wait, when did you move, Romeo?” She blinked in confusion, hands pointing to where the young teen had been seated and where he stood on the steps.

"Kinana, my dear, come with me. Macao, you too. Everyone else, just go back to whatever it was you had been doing." Makarov directed.   
All did as they were told, Kinana still confused as she followed Makarov with Macao right behind her.

"Now, what happened?" The old master turned to Macao, who promptly explained how Kinana cut herself off to ramble some strange words in a language he couldn't hope to recognize, only to go back to normal without missing a beat as soon as whatever seemed to influence her was gone. There was no indication of what it possibly could have been though… he also mentioned how it was strangely similar to the previous incidents. Being in a trance, doing something that had the guild worried, and the lack of memory of what had happened. All things they had seen before when it came to the barmaid.  
Makarov hummed, hand on his chin. He looked over at Kinana, who was slumped into her chair and staring at her hands, as if they could hold the answers to her blank memories.

She had hoped that meeting Erik, or perhaps, meeting him again, would jog her memories in some way. She hadn't even told Laki or Mirajane or Lisanna, but... she had started to send letters to Erik. He actually got them too, and even wrote back a little. Mostly to comment upon her guildmates and their antics that she recounted to him. She tried to ask about his life, and how they may have known each other before, but... he had snapped at her, in a way. Kinana could tell though, that it was out of fear. Sometimes though, he did tell her a few things. Like how he deal he made to help agaisnt the dragons got him and his guildmates out of jail. They had now joined an independent guild. She didn't know which, but she was fine with that. It meant that, should the letters be tracked down, she couldn't tell the Rune Knights were Erik and his friends were.

Still... it never answers the flashes of dreams. Of soothing sunlight and bright grass, of a man with emerald eyes and a woman with purple hair, of a girl with jade hair and the same eyes that reflected in Kinana's mirror. Nor did it let her piece together the fragmented puzzles of her nightmares. Of screams, and ruby liquid, and charred bodies and burning homes, of a sick grin and pain arcing through her, of gray stones far bigger than her, and the bittersweet of someone's kindness in hiding her, with the same chestnut-colored hair Erik had in those fuzzy memory-dreams surrounded by rocks and yelling and chains... 

That was why she had to ask...

"Master? Do you think... this could've been connected to my past, somehow? Didn't something similar happen when we were trying to find the clock parts?" She directed the last question to Macao, but looked at both men with a bit of desperation. She loved her guild family, but she couldn't deny the craving to know who she was, where she came from, hell, what her real name was! She knew none of it... This, whatever it was, might be one of her few clues.

"Possibly, my dear. At the same time though, we must remember it could also be unrelated, and be wary regardless." He reminded her gently. Kinana drooped a little, the sparks of excitement at the thought she may have a clue dying.   
She did have amnesia for a reason, and she seriously doubted it was just because she bumped her head.

"We will be looking into it though, once Levy and Freed are back from their teams' missions, I will ask them, and probably Lucy, to begin researching. I'm sure they would be happy for you to join them." Kinana managed a small smile to the surrogate grandfather.

"Thank you, Master." He grinned and waved her off to resume her barmaid duties, although Macao stayed.

"Master..." He began, unsure.

"When are we going to tell her? If this is related to her past, whatever that was, we'll have to let her know she was cursed at some point." Makarov sighed.

"Yes... If Levy, Lucy, and Freed cannot find anything, then we will let her know. It will be up to her then, on where to go from there."

In the rafters, a blonde ghost narrowed her eyes in thought. Mentally flipping through her knowledge, she decided there was perhaps one other alive that may have known, if her guild-children failed. 

But Mavis couldn't help shake off the feeling that, for once, this may not have had very much to do with her estranged lover.


	2. The Incantation : Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levy and Lucy's experiences

“Gah!” The petite, blue haired mage managed to roll out of the way just as the spikes that were double her height missed her. Three men and a large, bipedal black cat with a scar over his eye all shouted her name as she re-examined her new position. The pierced man with long, shaggy black hair and ruby colored eyes in particular took an extra ferocity in his next attack against the humongous, silvery lion-porcupine hybrid.

 _“And to think,”_ Levy thought sardonically, _“Gajeel was just complaining this job would be boring!”_  
To be fair though, when Lupinus Town’s mayor told them that she wanted some mages to check on their town’s coveted artifact’s defenses, she had only mentioned that there was a chance of some Vulcans and similar threat leveled monsters in the forest. She had definitely not warned them of the beast that decided to make its home in the cave of their artifact!

Levy’s dark hazel eyes spotted a stalagmite right above the monster’s head. Specifically, right above its eye, or... the only thing on its body not covered in the spiky, projectile armor. She gave a small huff of relief, and seeing that Gajeel, Lily, and Jet had it more than distracted, she signaled to Droy.

“Keep it in place, and everyone, watch your heads!” Prepping her magic, she aimed for the stalagmite.

**“Solid Script:Slice!”**

Levy would admit, she loved when her plans worked out just as she hoped. Gajeel had managed to uppercut the thing just as the tip of the rock hit it. She would’ve felt bad for the creature, but it didn’t exactly hide the remains of it’s past victims. She could only hope the town didn’t have any recently missing people, particularly those who had tried to check up on the artifact before they contacted the guilds…  
However, the beast caught her eye again, just as Jet and Droy began to celebrate and Lily went back to his smaller form…  
It was puffing up!

“Guys, look-!” Levy was cut off as everything went blank in her mind, and her body became rigid. Jet and Droy had already given their own exclamations of surprise as they scurried out of the way, Pantherlily summoning his wings. Gajeel, however, noticed Levy’s stiffness.

“The hell are ya doin’ Shrimp, MOVE!” The Iron Slayer rushed to the Solid Script mage, just as **_“Et notum fecit caelum”_** left her mouth. He picked up the still mage and transformed his skin to iron as the monster’s spikes released, several of which falling as they hit his back…  
Gods, he wouldn’t admit it, but… he was terrified of what could have just happened…

“LEVY!” Jet and Droy cried as they ran back from where they had taken shelter behind the natural pillar that just barely covered the heavy set plant mage. Lily flew down, silent but clearly concerned. The exceed always had a soft spot for the solid script mage, she was just a kind and determined soul, and he greatly respected that about her. Her counterpart may have been harsh and crude in comparison to Levy McGarden’s gentle and excitable nature, but the determination and nearly hard-headed bravery had stayed. How she had froze, and how close she was to serious injury?  
He was only thankful Gajeel was so aware and worried for the tiny mage.

Gajeel put Levy down, hands on her shoulders. Levy blinked and jerked forward as her mind caught up to her situation, re-evaluating and noticing the concern on her teammate’s faces. She shook her head and pursed her lips, registering Gajeel’s angry tone as the gears in her brain started up again.

“-ell where ya thinkin’, fuckin’ tryin’ to warn us and then freezin’ like that?! The actual gods-damn hell, Shrimp!”

“I don’t know what happened!” Levy snapped back. “All I know is one second I was trying to tell you all about the monster puffing up to release it’s spikes, and the next you’re yelling at me for some reason!” Gajeel straightened at that, his eyebrow piercings narrowing to give the large man an even frightening more look despite the honest confusion resting in his eyes.

“The shit that mean, then?” He grunted. Levy straighten her shoulders, looking him in the eyes as much as she could without straining her neck.

“I don’t know yet.” She admitted, but the resolve in her eyes let them know her plans even before she verbalized them. “But I will figure it out. As soon as we finish our mission to check on the artifact. So, let’s go.” The Iron slayer grunted again and backed down, allowing the leader of Team Shadow gear to lead the way into the cave, her loyal teammates and protective dragon right behind her.

Even though she kept aware of their surroundings, her mind wouldn’t stop drifting back to the trace of magic going through her.

It felt like Lu’s, in a strange way. Somehow connected, but different. Like how all the slayers had a similar feel in their magic, but still clearly distinctive thanks to their elemental differences.

This though…

It caused an old familiarity in her chest to ache, trying to drag up what she had been far too young to truly remember. A question that haunted her and her alone for so many years…

_Who left me in that garden?_

And the far less familiar, but just as relevant…

_And how are they connected to this?_

* * *

“You have got to be kidding me!” The blonde groaned in a yelled mix of despair and resignation as she turned heel and ran like hell, the herd of Hodras just a couple yards behind her.

Sure, Lucy agreed to the plan, using her whip as a bright and shiny distraction to attract the younger boar-like beasts, but that had been when it was just trying to get those ones back to their farmer! None of them planned for the twenty or so grown ones that were now gaining on her!

“GUYS! A LITTLE HELP, MAYBE?” She screamed, breathing a sigh of relief as pink, scarlet, black and blue-haired heads signaled her friends’ arrival.

“Sky Dragon: Roar!”  
“Ice-Make: Penn!”  
“Heaven’s Wheel: Circle Swords!”  
“Fire Dragon’s Brilliant Flame!”

Now with a chance to catch her breath, Lucy could use her own magic. Spinning around to see that Gray captured their targets, with Erza, Wendy and Natsu pushing them back as Carla held her charge in the air as Happy did his adoptive father/best friend. Lucy grabbed two golden keys from her ring and re-readied Fleuve d’etoiles.

“Open, Gate of Lion! Gate of the Ram!” She incanted.

“Afternoon, Princess!” Loke winked.

“Hi Miss Lucy! I’m sorry!” Aries squeaked. Lucy smiled at her friends before giving her requests.

“Aries, try to help Gray, knock out the younger Hodras, make some walls to keep the larger ones away. Loke, you’re with me, we’re going to help Natsu, Erza, and Wendy to try and scare off the rest!” Both nodded, Aries chiming in her usual apology as Loke just got to work, although not before reminding his fellow spirit to be careful. Lucy smiled a bit as Aries stuttered out a “you too”. Sue her, but she thought Loke and Aries would’ve been adorable if the lion took a hint and realized she felt the same, or if Aries gathered and managed to hold her courage and finally tell him. But, the shipping would wait for another day, probably when she could conspire with Mira.  
For now, she activated her whip again and charged forth with the Zodiac leader. She saw as Gray greeted Aries out of the corner of her eye, and Natsu welcomed Loke to the “party” as Wendy gave a small smile. Erza just gave her own orders.

“Don’t harm them too badly, just try to scare them off! Lucy, stay near there, fend them off from Gray and Aries! Loke, try to lure them off with your magic along with Natsu!” The Tatiana called out.

“Got it!”  
“As you wish, oh knighted beauty!”

Cracking her whip, Lucy wrapped it around the tusk of the closest Hodra, making it spin around just in time to see Loke’s Regulus blast. Charging towards the shiny lights, as Hodras were, thankfully, prone to do, it was a simple process of rinse and repeat as Aries and Gray built a wheeled bed for their captures for Erza to pull them back.

Lucy breathed a sigh of relief as she deactivated Fleuve d’etoiles, the strain of her magic releasing just a bit. She loved her spirits, and would forever be grateful for the unlocking of her second origin, but gods it was a hefty strain to keep two golden keys open. It got just a little easier every time, and her meditations with Capricorn helped by leaps, but it was tiring nonetheless.

Just as she finished her thoughts though, a jolt went up her spine. It was like summoning a Celestial Spirit, maybe one around Horologium’s or Grandpa Crux’s level, but reversed, and forceful. Like something was willing to go across worlds just to drag her to them, more of a breaking down the door though then unlocking a garden fence. She took a small gasp, only to see and feel Natsu roughly shaking her shoulders as Loke yelled at him, Aries looking on fearfully from just behind Wendy, who shared Gray and Erza’s concerned faces.

“Quit shaking me!” Lucy managed as she squirmed out of Natsu’s grasp, Loke and Aries rushing besides her. Through the bonds, she could feel the rest of her spirits’ trying to check in on her, and carefully sent a pulse of _I’mfinedon’tworry to them._  
Of course, it was only expected of the onslaught of responses. Despite how it was more emotions through the bonds than anything, Lucy felt like she could practically hear what each spirit said.

_IWASN’TWORRIEDDAMNBRAT. Thankgoodness,mylady. That’sarelie-zzzzz. Goodtoknow,baby. VerywellPrincess,punishment? Whatatimelyrecovery,then. Fineanddandythen,milady! Pun,Puunnn! PiripiriGreat!Yeah,Great! Trillllll! Gladnothinghappenedtothatmoooteaufulbod! Alrightthen,wicked! Ohgoody-I’dhatetogothroughthetroubleofgettinganewmage!_

Lucy smiled at their responses, turning it into a more apologetic one to her friends currently with her.

“Guys, I’m not sure what happened, but whatever it is, I’m fine!” she assured.

“Are you positive, Lucy? You spoke a language that none of us recognized, and seemed to be in a possessed sort of trance.” Erza explained, mulberry eyes meeting Lucy’s caramel ones.

“I promise, Erza.” That got the Tatiana to calm down a bit, the others too, well... other than Natsu and her spirits.

“It was an old language, Lucy. Like Draconic.” Natsu stared down the Celestial Mage.

“Then I’ll talk to Levy about it, and we’ll look up whatever happened.” She soothed. Natsu gave a sharp nod then, and Lucy knew he’d be taking extra care in watching her for the rest of the mission. It was just how Natsu was with her, whenever something tried to threaten her. Not that he didn’t otherwise, she was sure. Lucy knew the Fire mage would always have her back, but he just became extra cautious of the blonde when it seemed that a more immediate threat could be targeting her.  
Wendy piped up next, wanting to give Lucy a quick check-up, just in case. Lucy agreed, though she noticed Loke and Aries still out.

“Guys? I’m fine now, if you’d like to go back home you’re good to go. Not that I want to get rid of you, but usually the two of you excuse yourselves by now.” Lucy tilted her head to look at the unusually serious ram and lion duo.

“Right, sorry Princess!” Loke tried to grin, Aries nodding around, an “I’m sorry, miss.” squeaking out at them being caught.

“It’s just, well… we should check with Crux about something, Miss.” Aries explained, biting her lip.

“Oh, alright. Well, good luck then!” She wished, and with a pair of nods and a flash of golden light, the two spirits vanished back to their homeworld. Lucy filed away the strange behavior and the experience, and let Wendy get to her work as Gray managed to goad Natsu into a small spar, just so he wouldn't hover and interfere with Wendy. Erza began to brood, and Lucy sighed. Hopefully nothing else would come of this...


	3. The Incantation: Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Prologue is finally finished!

“Yes, I’ll be fine to freshen up by myself, thank you.” A young woman’s voice soothed the anxious maid, before closing the door. Jade green hair was released from the confines of a high and tight bun, and a sigh of relief was given as she threw off the short gloves that caused her hands to sweat. Finally, alone and with the time given for anyone outside to have moved away… 

Princess Hisui E. Fiore groaned as she flopped onto her plush comforter. 

“Just five minutes… just five…” She hissed to herself as she kicked off her heels, relief being known in a deep exhale as she waved her feet in the air, free from their burdens of the pinchy toes and too thin stiletto heels carrying her (admittedly a little too slight) weight. (What? She was a princess, she had duties, she had no time for lunch. Or dinner, sometimes.) Hisui groaned slightly as she looked at the clock. It was only four in the afternoon… 

Yet still, she had three more meetings about magic regulations, one about some law regarding criminal punishment because that one noble kept pushing for death sentences (even though more than three fourths of the council had agreed with her to finally get rid of it and the rest were just traditionalists that didn’t like her regardless), two magic lessons (at least she would be able to see the Canes Venatici again. They were good boys, and so sweet to her, even if they were exceptionally attuned to her stress and would growl even at her father and Arcadios if she was in a foul enough mood. If only she could understand teleportation magic though… ugh, Celestial Spirit magic was just so much easier! Well… for her at least.), and then dinner with her father at some point (because he and Arcadios always conspired when it came to her, she swore… well, okay maybe she should use different wording but still!), and of course there was her ever growing pile of citizen complaints and requests… 

Hisui just wanted five minutes to stop everything from rushing at her at light speed. Was that too much to ask?

A shot of magic, a sharp pull in her stomach and a fuzziness in her brain before it’s swift passing apparently meant yes. 

Hisui blinked before burying her head in her hands. The stress of her responsibilities, increasing with her father’s age, was definitely getting to her.

“I need to figure out delegation fast…” The princess muttered. Then, a memory, faded and sudden, rushed through her. 

_Everything was hazy and foggy, flickering in and out. A woman’s laugh drew her attention to a woman with startling similarities to her late mother. Same shade of vibrant jade in her eyes as her mother, but her hair was longer than her mother could apparently ever stand it. The style of clothing too was very different than the royal outfits Hisui had seen in portraits. A taller man appeared behind the woman, and surprised her with a playful roar as he picked her up and twirled her from behind. A few different children’s voices laughed as the woman yelled at her playful assailant, and Hisui was surprised to recongize her own voice among them. She turned to see a small girl with irises that matched her own, and further in the fog, a small boy with tanned skin and brown hair._

_“Kam-nee!” Her own voice shouted before-_

A knock on the door. 

‘Princess? I’m terribly sorry, but we really must be getting to the meeting about the penalty-” the familiar voice of her personal scribe frantically sounded from beyond the door. 

Shaking off the dream-memory-whatever, Hisui quickly redid her hair, this time in a ponytail, and ran to her drawers. She pulled out a new pair of gloves before picking up her discarded shoes and shoving them back on, silently screaming in her mind. She needed to ask her father about what she might’ve remembered! Could her mother really have had more family?

Ugh, where was a pumpkin hat disguise when you needed one?

* * *

Jellal sighed as he finally sat down on the rock besides Meredy, the pinkette giving a barely audible groan as she lay her head on his shoulder. The younger girl made grabby hands for her bag, and Jellal gave a soft chuckle as he handed her the well-worn book of folk tales. The Heavenly Body mage’s hazel eyes then surveyed the rest of their companions. Sawyer who used his magic for a moment to check the perimeter again, the grumpy blonde giving Jellal a thumbs up before promptly sitting under a tree and taking out the little cube he had picked up in town and playing with it. Richard began setting up a fire and checking over their supplies, and Jellal made a mental note to thank the taller man. Richard was definitely the best chef of them all, and while Jellal was also capable, none of the rest were to be trusted with making food. Erik was near the edge of the clearing, scowling and red-faced with a middle finger up at Macbeth, who was snickering as he handed the tanner redhead the paper and pen wordlessly before going back to his new magic carpet and curling up. Sorano smirked besides him and gave Erik a vicious smirk, doubtlessly jeering at the slayer in her mind for the letters he was sending. (For all she could be considerate and even kind, the angel summoner was a relentless tease, and still quite the sadist to boot.) Jellal purposely made sure not to think too much about Erik's letters to the purple-haired barmaid of Fairy Tail. Both for the sake of not earning the Poison Dragon Slayer’s ire, and to try and avoid some of his own guilt. Erik was able to keep up with Kinana without revealing where they were, or any actually important information, at least regarding their guild. (That was definitely thanks to the lack of dates and how Erik always had the post office deliver it after at least a week, but usually spacing them out so the order they were sent got mixed up. He placed the date Kinana sent her letter on the inside, so she’d know which he was responding to. Erik also figured out a code with her to let her know where to send her letter next, though not even the other Oracion Seis members were able to figure it out, much less Jellal and Meredy.) Since then, Meredy and Juvia had begun corresponding at least once a month too… 

And yes, Jellal knew Erza had forgiven him for his past sins, but… he still didn’t feel halfway worthy of trying to properly regain the scarlet beauty’s friendship. He definitely knew he couldn’t be worthy of her love, he had done far too much. If he placed too much hope in a future, one where she may accept him in it… no, he would just focus on his guild and mission, for now. That was all he needed to do. He took a deep breath and almost began mediating when a magical energy shook through his core. He flung his astral projection out to see what his body was doing. He had read enough about possessions and the like after Meredy and Ultear broke him out… what, could you blame him for being cautious? Meredy, Richard, Sawyer and Erik were staring at Jellal’s body, which was faintly glowing, similar to when he used Meteor. It had also started speaking in a language he only recognized from some of the old incantations Ultear fed him back in the Tower, or when he had travelled as Seigrain and dug deep in the Stellar Magics section of the council’s library. His magic was one of the last remnants of his family, possibly of their clan’s entire culture… The language was an off-branch and old version of Stellan, formerly used by the inhabitants of Ca-Elum’s inland, called Elumin. A lost language, and a dangerous one. The Elumese were the ones said to have created the Celestial Spells, like the Urano Metria Lucy and Yukino where able to perform. It was a powerful language, and had been lost a long time ago for what the Magic Council at the time called good reason. To Jellal, it was proof that the old councils were always made of paranoid cowards… Oh great, and Sorano is also glowing and incanting in time with Jellal’s body. Perfect. That definitely meant good things. (Note the sarcasm… ) Wait- where did Erik go?

" **Luna ipsa putabantur indigni:** ” And Jellal decided he could worry about that later. For now, translation. ‘The moon has perished.’ And now Sorano stopped speaking but is still glowing… interesting. 

“ **Stellae mortuus es** ” **‘** The stars are dead.’

“ **Canite sol tuus** ” **‘** The sun has blown.’

“ **Et notum fecit caelum** ” ‘And heaven has known.’

“ **Nisi quod sumus formides.** ” ‘That we are only dread.’

Well that was cheery… what the hell did it even mean?

Seeing the glows leave Sorano and himself, Jellal broke his projection and woke up. 

“Erik what the hell?! Get out of the tree!” Sorano suddenly yelled, hands on her hips. Jellal looked over to see Erik had, in fact, flung himself up a tree. Well… that answered one question at least. Jellal began rubbing his forehead as Meredy blinked at him. 

“Sooo… what was with that language and glowing?” The pinkette questioned. 

“I’m not sure yet. Hopefully we will be able to find out before whatever caused it decides to attack us though.” Meredy nodded and resumed her book. Richard and Sawyer overheard their conversation, and resumed cooking and messing with the cube respectively. Macbeth hadn’t even woken up from his nap. 

_THUMP._

Ah. Erik’s out of the tree then.

“Screw off Ange!”

“Make me, you Snake Fuc-ACK!”

Jellal gave a deep, deep sigh as Macbeth woke from his nap to laugh at his wrestling friends.

* * *

“Erik what the hell?! Get out of the tree!” 

Sorano really wasn’t sure why Erik was in a tree. Again. He had been doing this shit ever since they were kids and went outside to ‘play’. AKA, hide from Brain and use their magics to defend themselves in some whackjob mix of manhunt and hide-and-go-seek. Sorano hated that. She always felt terrible as Midni- Macbeth would always be found so soon, never able to wake up and run fast enough after he found someplace to rest for a moment. Richard was a decent hider, but usually suffered as much as Macbeth. Sawyer of course was the best at getting away and running, only Erik and Cubellios usually being able to keep up. The dragon slayer and snake also tended to go up in the trees with Sorano. The Chisel was more of a distance fighter, but at the time, she had keys for Lynx and Musca too. That damn cat was relentless in his loyalty, it broke her hidden heart when Brain had destroyed his key. Her little spy fly’s was thrown away once she killed that weak as hell Blue Pegasus mage, Gemini replacing her.

Sorano would be the first to admit she wasn’t a very good celestial mage when she had used that magic. Oh, she could perform the magic fine, which was more than what most people could say. She could even pull off holding multiple keys open, even if one was a freaking Zodiac! But she was cold to even her first spirits, cruelty settling in as the ones she whispered as her friends were shattered or had their contracts broken and keys carelessly thrown away. She thought absently that maybe that constant replacement, combined with her own desperation to control something like she had been in that accursed tower, was why she had turned out just like _them_. 

Sorano didn’t pray anymore, none of the once Oracion Seis did. If there were really gods that listened, they would’ve done shit about the Tower, if they were any amount of decent. But she couldn’t help the wish that lingered in her mind, that her little snowflake would never find out what an awful creature her big sister became. 

Erik suddenly fell out of the tree, and Sorano felt like her face had been drained of all heat before the blood rushed back in anger. Glaring at her fallen friend, she directed her thoughts into a cuss filled rant about respecting her privacy and keeping his ears to his fucking self!

“Screw off Ange!” The dragon slayer growled, glaring right back. Sorano knew he couldn’t always help it, but hell, this was _private_. So, she went for the big red button. 

“Make me, you snake fuc-ACK!” she was cut off by Erik suddenly tackling her, the younger man red all the way to the pointed tips of his ears as he slammed his hand over her mouth. To her own credit, Sorano wasted no time in placing a kick to his abdomen, causing him to land right in front of Macbeth. The illusion mage woke with a scowl, but it quickly dissolved into small cackles as Erik got up and began wrestling the white haired girl. Sorano could see from the corner of her eye that Sawyer was also watching, though Richard had dutifully kept to meal prep. Meredy was already consumed in her book again, and Jellal was looking to the sky. Either he was begging a deity to just end him then or to take care of the former Oracion Seis. Either way, Sorano and Erik both had slight grins at her thought. The blue haired man usually always seemed so composed, if tired. It was more or less a secondary goal of Sawyer, Macbeth, Erik, and herself (and on occasion, Meredy,) to see how many little buttons of the Heavenly Body Mage they could find and push before he lost his seemingly endless cool. 

What?

You can’t blame her. She was trying to atone for her sins yes, but she still had to find her fun somehow. She went through all the trouble to get her life-force back from those false-angels she could call upon, like hell she’d waste it. 

* * *

_It was the room again. The dark one, with the nine chairs at each point of the enneagram star and the different colored candles in front of them. Except the candles were lit, each with a flame matching their candle’s color. The chairs weren’t empty this time either, and instead of mumbled, twisting voices, it was a full conversation._

_Each chair had someone wearing the same dark brown cloak, hoods over their heads._

_“Did it work?” The man behind the violet candle asked. He was easily the biggest of the figures, with a low voice that almost seemed to shake the air. The figures behind the black candle gave a smirk as the yellow cackled._

_“Duh!” Yellow threw her hands up, putting heavy boots on her point of the table, uncaring of her candle._

_“Daphitroe!” Violet yelled. Yellow groaned and put down her feet, chair slamming back on the ground as Orange and Red snickered. Yellow, Daphitroe, stuck her tongue out at them. The black candle spoke up, revealing an oily slick voice._

_“Yes. It worked. We’ve located them all.” He told Violet. Blue spoke up._

_“Well then? Show us.” Her voice was soft-spoken, but held a sharpness. The type to phrase a command like a question, although it was obvious to be anything but. Daphitroe sighed, but waved her hand. Eight mulit-colored lights swirled into existence, lighting up her face just enough to make out half her features. Her skin was pale, and she had a hot pink eye and dirty blonde hair. She also had really caked on the make-up, gold dust on her cheeks and eyes rimmed in thick pink liner, along with gold lipstick. With another movement of her hand, the lights shot off to a map of Fiore. The light orange went to the center of Crocus, while the bright blue went to one of the mountains besides it- Hepatica City; the green went in to the outskirts of Crocus; both red and dark blue went to a forest near Oak Town; but three of the lights, the bright yellow and orange, along with the pink, were in a place they’d recognize on any map- home._

_But what could they want with-_

_Knock kno_ ck KNOCK

They jerked awake, breathing heavily. 

“Come on kiddo, up and at ‘em!” Dad’s voice… but… wait, was that just a dream? 

“Get movin’! We got some extra money from that last job, so we get to go to the guild for breakfast!” Dad said gleefully. They rolled their eyes. They’d have gone to the guild for breakfast anyways, Dad couldn’t cook for shit and he always rushed them so he could go and get his drinks. But, what else was new?

Well...

Other than the dream, of course. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uhhhhh...  
> Hi.  
> I see you've come to see what took me so long to upload...  
> I'm sorry. I did legitametly think I'd be able to do this so much sooner.  
> I was mistaken and had very much so underestimated how much college would drain me, not to mention the amount of time it would take. Add that with trying and failing to find a job...  
> Yeah...  
> But I figured- need a win somewhere, should really at least finish this prologue.  
> AND I DID.  
> But don't worry, this is not the end of this fic. Ohhhh, it is far from over.  
> Hopefully, it won't take so long for me to upload again.  
> But uhhhh  
> No promises on my schedule being any kind of consistent.  
> But, thank you all for reading! I hope future chapters will continue to please you guys! ^_^ 
> 
> Also, does anyone think they can guess about who mystery dreamer is?

**Author's Note:**

> And thus, the tale of the Astronomical Mages begins!  
> I will try to update once a week to month at the longest.  
> Can you guess who will be up next?


End file.
